1. Into the Light

                                    

                                              


                          
For the first time in what could have been decades, Telvin May drew breath. The dry, dusty air hushed in and he lunged forth, gasping, with eyes and mouth wide open. The air was cold, but his body was colder, so he felt a jolt of energy run down his muscles.
                          
He still couldn't process the shapes his eyes were seeing, but the awareness of his body started to settle in. He knew he was sitting down, with his legs stretched and his back against something hard. He saw his feet and waved his arms. Sight came back to him as he stretched his fingers and clenched them into a fist. 

                          
Another breath. Where was he? He was outside... There was sand around him and the sky was black, ominous, dotted with white stars and dark energy. There was no light but for a beam hovering in front of him. He focused and noticed the light was staring at him.
                          
"Hum, hello...", said the light source. "You'll want to take it easy for a moment. Your body is brand new and your mind has been dead for a long while."
                          
"Who... am I?" was the first thing he could ask, the first thought structured into words he was able to find since his awakening. 
                          
"I don't know and, honestly, that is not important. All that matters is what you will become. Do you remember your name?"
                          
"Yes, but barely. I'm Telvin May, I think. And what are you?"
                          
"Well Telvin May... I am a Ghost. Your Ghost, actually. I've searched for a long time to find you. Not many of us come this far from the Traveler to find their Guardians, you know..."
                          
"My Ghost? Am I dead?"

                          
"Yes...I mean, not anymore! You are a Guardian now." As the light moved around, Telvin was able to see it was being emitted by the surface of a little sphere, encased within a metal frame. "But now is not the time for questions. It was lucky to find you here. I have picked up a power surge signal coming from below the ground and it could mean this whole area is about to blow up. Can you stand?"

                          
Telvin tried and found that he could, as long as he kept a hand on the wall where his back was resting before. Under the Ghost's light, he saw dark brown stains on the wall, about the height of his head, dripping down until where he was prostrated before. On the floor next to him, a long barrel of a gun was sticking out of the sand.
                          
"You may want to pick that up. Give it here, let me see if I can repair it" said his Ghost and, as soon as he reluctantly pulled the rifle out of the ground, the beam of light from his companion engulfed the weapon, taking away most of the rust and the tear and wear on its frame.
                          
"This should do for now" it said. "To our left there is a door, let's see if it leads us to where the signal is coming from."
                          
Telvin looked around and saw that the building behind him was the only construct sticking out of the desert sand for as far as his eyes could see in the dark and, even so, it was little more than a shed. He saw the metal door and moved to it, his heavy body feeling lighter and stronger with every step.
                          
"Remind me again why this is any of my business? Why can't we just get out of here?"
                          
"Well, it is not like we have any sort of transport and, on our feet, we will never get out of the blast radius in time, in case this explode. Plus, we need to know what is going on... We've never seen any pre-Traveler tech come online on its own before. Even the Warminds were never connected to these facilities."
                          
Telvin sighted. "Ok, I get the point... Let's do this now, Ghost" he said as his hand wrapped around the door handle. "But after it is done, we will have a proper chat."
                          
"We sure will" said the little light ball, now floating around his head. "We'll have all the time in the world."

                          
***